Greeting card



D. S. GIBSON GREETING CARD March 14, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 4, 1960 5 INVENTOR. Dora -5u e Gibson.

ATTORNEYS.

D. S. GIBSON GREETING CARD March 14, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

Filed Jan. 4, 1960 W I mm II: W

lwwlii SW WIII INVENTOR. Dora Sue Gibson. BY

camw

Patented. Mar. 14, 19%1 v e Eg GREETING CARD Dora Sue Gibson, Kansas City, Kans., assignor to Hallmark Cards, Incorporated, Kansas City, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Filed Jan. 4, 1960, Ser. No. 138

1 Claim. (Cl. 40-1241) This invention relates to a greeting card, and more particularly to a greeting card having a base provided with an ornament of expansible material secured to said base.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a greeting card having a base or side members foldable on a fold line at substantailly the vertical center thereof and having a background on each side of the fold line and an expansible paper ornament secured to the respective sides of the base or side members foldable to lie flat when the card is closed and when opened expansible so as to furnish an ornament to the card and also having openings through which the background on the card may be viewed.

Other objects of the present invention are to provide an ornament for the card in the form of an expansible member in which a plurality of sheets or plys of thin paper are assembled in a flat pile or pack and having the sheets adhesively secured together at spaced intervals and having the sheets of material cut in the form of the ornament desired, such as a house, a balloon, or any other object; to provide the paper expansible member with a cut-out portion forming a surrounding for the background on the base of the card and providing the expansible ornament with openings when the card is opened through which the background may be viewed; to provide a top for the ornamental expansible member so that when the card is folded the top will be pleated and lie flat between the side members of the card and the front of the ornamental expansible member or body will be honeycombed providing openings through which the background may be viewed; to provide an expansible ornamental member with a notched portion forming a surrounding for the background on the base of the card and having slots in the body thereof through which the background may be viewed, the slots being separated by thin sheets of the paper material and the top being tapered upwardly and honeycombed and the bottom also being honeycombed; to provide an expansible member of this character whereby it will cause the base members to be drawn together when in open position to close the card; and to provide a device of this character simple and economical to manufacture.

In accomplishing these and other objects of the present invention, 1 have provided improved details of structure, the preferred form of which is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front view of my invention showing the greeting card in open position with a portion broken away for better illustration.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 2Z, Fig. 5.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 3-3, Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 4-4, Fig. 2, particularly illustrating the sheets of paper adhesively secured together to form a honeycombed body.

Fig. 5 is an end view of the card in closed position.

Fig. 6 is a front view of a modified form of the invention shown in open position.

Fig. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view particularly illustrating the background and the strips of adhesive material securing the sheets of paper together.

Referring more in detail to the drawings:

1 designates a greeting card embodying the features of my invention comprising a fiat base member 2 formed from a single integral piece of cardboard or relatively stiii material scored along the line 3 forming a hinge or fold line for the sides 4 and 5 of the card.

6 designates an ornament which may be of any particular design, such as a ball, a heart for a valentine, a house or cage, as I do not wish to be limited to any particular form of ornament. In Figs. 1 to 5, I have i1lustrated an ornament having a body 7 provided with a plurality of honeycombed openings 8 and a top 9.

The ornament 6 is preferably made from a plurality of sheets or plys of thin paper or expansible tissues foldable into a hat condition when the card is closed, as illustrated in Fig. 5. Such ornaments are made from a plurality of sheets of paper 10 and secured together by adhesive as indicated at ll (Fig. 2). In this form of the invention, it will be noted the adhesive is formed in parallel lines with respect to the sheets of material and spaced apart as indicated at 12. Any desired number of sheets may be laid and secured together in this manner, depending upon the type of ornament desired. These sheets are formed of any desired size, usually from 24 x 60 inches, and the ornaments cut therefrom.

By reference to Fig. 2, it will be noted the layers of papers are out along a straight line as indicated at 13 to form a portion to be secured to the card, as later described. The sheets are out along the line 14 to form the bottom and tapered outwardly as indicated at 15 to form the outer edge of the ornament or front View of the side thereof. The top of the sheets are out along a downwardly extending line 16 to form the top, and an outwardly curved portion 17 is provided to form an overhanging portion 13 of the body '7 of the ornament. A cut-out portion 1% is provided in the back of the ornamentation, and the back 26 of the cut-out portion extends parallel to the out line 15 forming the front of the ornament. The top of the cut-out portion of each sheet is circular, as indicated at 21.

The ornament has sides 22 and 23 secured by adhesive or the like to the side portions 4 and 5 respectively of the card 1, said sides 22 and 23 also being cut out as at 19' to define a background receiving area on the card sides 4 and 5. The cut or line 13 of the ornament above the cut-out portion 19 is secured along the fold line 3 of the base of the card by adhesive or the like as indicated at 24, and the portion 25 below cut-out portion 19 is also secured to the fold line 3 as at 26 (Fig. 2). The outermost sheets or sides 22 and 23 of the ornament are secured to the respective sides 4 and 5 of the base by adhesive as indicated at 27 (Figs. 3 and 4-). It will be obvious that the entire perimeter of the orna ment 6 surrounding the cut-out portion 19 is adhesively secured to the base equally on each side of the fold line 3.

With a card made and assembled as described, it will be obvious that placing of adhesive in parallel lines sloping diagonally downwardly with the cut-out portion 19 of the particular shape and the cut-out portions 14, 15, 16 and 17 for the outside outline of the ornament, when the card is opened by movement of the sides d and 5 outwardly the ornament 6 will be expanded, thus forming the honeycombed openings 8 for the body 7 and the top 9 out along a line of adhesive will be expanded with a closed portion having a plurality of points 28 formed by the particular shape of the ornament, as indicated at 17, which extend outwardly from the body 7 to give an over- 9 hang effect to the ornament and pleated top portion when the ornament is in open position. The openings are at a slight angle upwardly due to the cutting of the ornament with respect to the adhesive strips. The honeycombed effect of the layers of thin sheets of paper after the card is opened will be in tension, and upon release of the sides of the card will pull the sides together to close the card, as illustrated in Fig. 5. i

Fig. 2 illustrates the background, as indicated at 30, which is here illustrated as a bird and may be drawn on the face 31 of the base 2 of the card on either side of the fold line 3 or it may extend over the fold line, as desired. While I have here illustrated a drawing as the background, any ornamentation may be utilized without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate another form of the ornamentation for the card designated 32, similarly made from a plurality of sheets of thin paper or tissue 33 laid on top of each other and secured together by spaced strips of adhesive 34 (Fig. 7). The ornament is cut on a straight line 35 for the back thereof and a straight line 36 for the bottom and a straight line 37 for the front portion and a curved line 38 for the top. The back edges of the sheets are cut out or notched in a substantially square shape, as indicated at 39, and the side faces of the outermost sheets 42 and 43 of the paper are secured to the faces 4 and of the base 2 centered on the fold line 3, as illustrated in Fig. 6. The notched portion 39 in the paper forms spaced strips 45 for the front of the ornament and a contiguous strip 46 at the bottom thereof provided with honeycombs 47. There is a contiguous strip 48 at the top which tapers upwardly to the point and thus forms honeycombed openings 49 in the top. A background 50 in the form of a lion is depicted here by drawing the same on the side 4 of the card which is surrounded by the notched out portion 39. A background may also be illustrated on the side 5 of the base, as desired, and while I have here illustrated the drawing, other ornamentation may be used.

When the card is folded, the ornament will lie in flat position, and when opened the honeycombed arrangement will be in tension so that the card will automatically close upon release of the sides 4 and 5 to fold the card to closed position. When the card is in opened position, vertical slots 51 will be formed between the strips of paper 45 through which the background may be viewed.

It will be obvious from the foregoing that I have provided an improved greeting card having an ornamentation on the inside thereof which when folded will lie flat and upon expansion will be in tension to close the card upon release, and having openings through which a background on the card may be viewed.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A greeting card comprising, a base member having a pair of flat members rotatable about an axis at their contiguous hingedly associated inner edges, said flat base members having inner surfaces facing one another when said fiat base members are rotated to fold one on the other, background characterization on said inner surfaces of said fiat base members adjacent said inner edges, and an expansible ornament comprising a plurality of overlying thin sheets each joined to adjacent sheets by a plurality of spaced parallel adhesive strips with the adhesive strips joining one sheet to one adjacent sheet alternating with the strips joining said one sheet to the other adjacent sheet so as to form a honeycomb structure with openings therein extending parallel to said adhesive strips when said sheets are urged toward separation, the first and last of said plurality of sheets being respectively adhesively secured to said inner surfaces of said flat base members symmetrically about said hinge axis with an inner edge of said expansible ornament adjacent said hinge axis and said spaced adhesive strips being positioned substantially longitudinally of said hinge axis, said expansible ornament when collapsed between said flat base members having an upper edge and a bottom edge and an outer edge spaced from said hinge axis and a cut-out portion forming a cavity extending outwardly from the inner edge of said ornament and terminating adjacent inwardly of and substantially parallel to the outermost adhesive strips joining the sheets of said ornament whereby rotation of said flat base members toward a coplanar position expands said ornament about said hinge axis and the outer portion of said ornament presents spaced bar members with elongate upright openings therebetween and said background characterization within said cavity being visible through said upright openings. I

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,841,041 Lowenstein Jan. 12, 1932 1,891,009 Phelps Dec. 13, 1932 2,344,723 Pettorossi Mar. 21, 1944 2,704,904 Maas Mar. 29, 1955 2,891,336 Sellmer June 23, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 166,117 Germany Ian. 3, 1906 

